Two Halves of the Same Sword
by PercyAnime
Summary: What if Tazuna refused to tell Team 7 who was after him and Kakashi was forced to end the mission? What if Naruto didn't want to leave him alone and continues the mission alone? When he is confronted by Zabuza and Haku they take him in as their own and train him in the way of kenjutsu. Narutox Slight Konoha Bashing
1. Kubikiribōchō' Words!

Two Halves of the Same Sword

Summary: What if Tazuna refused to tell Team 7 who was after him and Kakashi was forced to end the mission? What if Naruto didn't want to leave him alone and continues the mission alone? When he is confronted by Zabuza and Haku they take him in as their own and train him in the way of kenjutsu. NarutoxHaku Konoha Bashing OCC

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Chapter I: Kubikiribōchō's Words

Team 7 were currently riding a small wooden boat threw the water. They were accompanied by Tazuna, the bridge builder and of course the ferryman that rowed the boat since they had to cut the motor. Naruto was leaning off the tip of the small boat, squinting his eyes to try and see through the fog. It was really impossible; the fog was so thick they could barely see the giant wooden bridge they almost ran into.

"Woah, it's huge!" The loud mouth blond exclaimed. He was quickly silence by everyone else on the boat.

"Be quiet!" The annoyed ferryman whispered loudly, "Why do you think I cut the motor? We can't be spotted."

Naruto shrink back in embarrassment.

Kakashi look at Tazuna as they began to approach their destination, "Tazuna-san, I'm afraid that if you'll have to tell me who is after your life or I'll have to end the mission here and take my team back to Konoha."

Tazuna looked down in shame; his wide straw hat was covering his face. "I'm sorry, I can't do that. It will already endanger your lifes more than they already are." The bridge builder spoke, "But what I will tell you is that this mission is easily a B or even an A ranked one. But unfortuneatly for the past year the Wave country have been in great poverty and we couldn't afford to pay for that level of mission. Even our most wealthy nobles barely have any to spare!" He added

Kakashi looked away in regret. He was hoping that Tazuna would tell him so they could continue the mission. He knew that it was very dangerous to take a fresh team of Genin on such a dangerous mission but like Tazuna said, the Wave country was in big trouble and they could help. They were already only seconds away from the tunnel that would bring them to their destination. "I'm sorry, Tazuna, but when we arrive at the peer I will be take my team back to Konoha.

Tazuna looked down in disappointment. That was of course the answer the was expecting. It wasn't long before they passed under the tunnel and were greeted by the beautiful scenery of the REAL Wave country. The sun was shining bright on the water, creating a beautiful reflection along it. There were many houses built on the platforms above the water.

It was only within a minute that they arrive at their destination. Tazuna carefully exited the boat. He got on his knees in a praying form, "I will only say this once. Please, I beg of you to help me…" He said. He was now on his knee begging. Tears seemed to start up in Sakura's eyes watching the old man begging. Sasuke's expression didn't change at all. Kakashi looked at him with a questionable look. And Naruto…well…Naruto had a determined look on his face as usual.

"I'm sorry Tazuna, we—" Kakashi was cut off when Naruto step off the boat. Team 7 stared in shock as their short teammate walked off the boat.

"NARUTO, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Sakura yelled. It was okay to yell now that they were in their safe zone.

"I don't know about you guys, but this is my first mission outside of the village and I plan on completing it with or without you guys!" The blond said with a stubborn look on his face. Tazuna had a very thankful look on his face. Was this blond Genin really planning to go so far as to stand against his teammates and sensei for the sake of the mission?

Sasuke, who had stayed quite for the entire ferry ride spoke, "Get back in the boat, dope, or else you'll be marked as a missing-nin for running away. Naruto had an uneasy look on his face after what came out of his teammate's mouth. The blond grinded his teeth, he had no choice anymore.

"But that's not true!" He retorted, shocking the group. "I'm on a mission so that means on not a missing-nin if I'm still working for the village, right Kakashi-sensei?"

Sakura was about to speak, but Kakashi silence her with a motion of his hand, "He's right. But Naruto, just remember that the ninja that you'll be facing from now on will not be Chunnin. They'll be Jounin, elite ninja with deadly skill."

"I don't care!" Naruto replied. "I'll pull through somehow." He said carelessly.

Shit, I thought for sure that would make him not want to go…, Kakashi thought, but I guess he's just too stubborn. "Very well," the scarecrow ninja said, "You have a week to complete the mission. If you aren't back in Konoha within seven days then you will be marked as a missing-nin." Kakashi said, shocking Sasuke and Sakura.

"Yes, you got it Kakashi-sensei, no problem!" Naruto jumped around in excitement. "Okay, Jiji-san, where to?"

Tazuna had to say that he was truly shocked that this young Genin, fresh out of the academy was going to risk his life going on such a dangerous mission alone, "T-this way." He said, pointing the direction behind him.

"YOSH, LET'S GOO!" Naruto exclaimed before marching towards that direction.

Tazuna wasn't a bit scared that he was going to be guarded by a single Genin that he didn't trust 5 minutes ago. After all it was far better than going through the forest alone. You could even say that he was grateful of what the blond was doing. But he afraid that he would die with him, such a young boy dying because of him. But he could see that even his sensei couldn't change his mind so he didn't even try, instead he started walking behind Naruto, clutching his bag straps.

"That idiot, he knows he's going to die, right?" Sasuke asked no one. Kakashi watched as the two walked away from the boat. What was he waiting for? He was expecting Naruto the turn around and join them in the boat, realizing that his idea and the mission was suicide but no. He knew that the blond boy was far too stubborn.

"Ferryman, take us back to back to the Fire Country shore please." Kakashi said before the ferryman began to row again and the boat started to move again. And Naruto hot further and further away. The three Konoha shinobi didn't take their eyes off the blond until they were surrounded by fog away.

Naruto and Tazuna had only been walking for about a half hour. They were surrounded by a large green forest. It had been relevantly quiet so far. Just a few villagers greeting the famous bridge builder before they entered the empty forest.

Suddenly, Naruto heard something in the bushes. He ran a few meters in front of Tazuna, a kunai in each hand as he scouted the area. "Hhmm.." He hummed as he paused for a moment. There was a long pin drop silence when suddenly Naruto launched his kunai to the right. There was a loud BONK when it made contact with a tree.

"What is it?" Tazuna asked, with a weary voice as Naruto ran over to the bush to investigate. He dug through the bushes to find a white rabbit, scared out of its mind with a familiar kunai planted into the tree, just above its head.

Shit, Naruto thought, this isn't what I saw, that's for sure. He pulled his kunai out of the tree before he heard a swinging sound as if someone was swing a stick or some sort of weapon. He turned back to look at Tazuna only to see an overly large sword swing at a very high speed towards them. "Get down!" Naruto said, ducking. The sword swooped over where they once stood and in a matter of a second it implanted itself high in a tree trunk.

They looked up to see a man with his lower face covered by some sort of medical wrap or a cloth. He wasn't wearing a shirt but he wore leg warmers on his arms and pantaloons that came up to his mid-stomach. He had a headband that Naruto identified as a Kiri one with a single scratch on it. He stood on the large sword with such balance.

"Who are you?!" Naruto demanded.

Zabuza had to admit that he wasn't expecting this. A mere child was protecting his target. Was Gato joking when he said this was going to be hard? He said that this would be difficult… "My name is Momochi Zabuza. And yours?" He said.

"Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage of Konoha!" Naruto exclaimed with such pride and honour.

Zabuza ignored the Genin's outburst, grabbing his sword and kicking off the tree trunk with incredible speed and power. The blade of the sword was rip out of the trunk, in the process Zabuza rushed at Naruto with great speed, with his sword ready.

He was only inches away from the blond Genin when he began to swing his large butcher knife like blade, aiming for the his neck. He saw the fear Naruto's Cerulean eyes as the space between his neck and the blade quickly perished. Zabuza loved that look, he fed off of it like it pure energy itself. But there was another look in the boy's beautiful cerulean eyes. The slightest look of courage that was there since he showed up, and never left his pupils.

Zabuza smirked under his mask as he was only milliseconds away from ending yet another life. But it wasn't as he expect when his wrist snapped back, almost breaking it. What was this mysterious force stopping his blade only inches away from his target? He noticed that Naruto never closed his eyes, even when he was at death's doors.

Now that Naruto actually had a good look at the long blade he could see that the blade itself has two cut outs, a circle close to the top and a semi-circular one nearer the handle. It had a long handle that looked like it would make it very hard to carry but Zabuza had no problem carrying it.

He kept pushing and pushing, trying to get the sword to slice through the boys' neck but nothing he did would budge it forward. He even added the strength of his second hand to help push, but it wasn't moving at all. "Hey, kid, what the hell did you do?!" Zabuza demanded.

"I don't know," Naruto spoke, he was afraid to move. He was scared that if he moved his a little that this mysterious force would let up and allow Zabuza to end his life.

"Kubikiribōchō, what's going on?" Zabuza asked, referring to his sword. "Let's finish this baka and get on with the old man!" He demanded.

Is this guy for real? Naruto thought, He's freaking talking to his sword!

"I don't know why, kid, but Kubikiribōchō won't let me kill you." Zabuza said, Narutos' heart was beating so quickly even after the mist-nin said that. He allowed a small sigh of relief, but he wasn't letting his guard down. "He tells me he likes you. He's never been this way before towards anyone but me and his previous owners." Zabuza added.

"So now what?" Naruto asked, let out a little gulp.

"I don't know. I could just strangle you to death with my own hands but I and Kubikiribōchō have been through too much for me to just ignore his words, especially words as rare as those he is speaking now." Zabuza replied. He retreat his large sword known as Kubikiribōchō back to his side. Naruto could breathe easily now. It was quiet for a moment before Zabuza spoke, "I'm taking you with me, kid." He stated.

"Hey, what the hell are you talking about?" Naruto asked, "I'm not going anywhere with you! You're a missing-nin, and you just tried to kill me ten seconds ago." He added.

"Kubikiribōchō tells me he sees greatness far superior than any of the previous seven swordsmen of the mist." Zabuza said, "I can't pass up this chance to train someone that Kubikiribōchō trusts so much and sees so much potential within.`` Zabuza explained.

Naruto still wasn`t buying it. He met this guy two minutes ago. And within that two minutes he already tried to kill him, he almost succeeded if it wasn`t for that sword that helped him out. He owed that giant knife his life that's for sure. "Fine, but I`m only doing it for him! " Naruto said, point at the sword that Zabuza held. "I owe him my life. But under one condition. You don`t kill Tazuna, and instead you kill Gato. " Naruto said.

Zabuza had to think about it for a few moments. Gato was offering a hefty price for that man`s head, but then again like he said this opportunity he couldn`t pass up.

"Really, Zabuza, are you really going to do what that kid says?" A voice came from behind Zabuza. A short man wearing an expensive looking tux and top hat emerged from the trees that made the forest. Along with him was an assortment of bandits, thugs, missing-nins, there were a dozen or so. They were men that Gato hired.

"Gato!" Naruto, Zabuza and Tazuna exclaimed in unison.

Naruto was about to say something, but Zabuza beat him to it, "I would chose to train this kid even if it meant giving up my own life!" Zabuza shocked Naruto and Tazuna with his words. What was so special about Naruto that made Zabuza want to train him so badly? With those words said, Zabuza rushed at the angry mob that was set up to protect Gato with Kubikiribōchō at the ready.

He was at them with in a second. With one swing of his blade he was rid of three of them, cutting them in half with a horizontal swing to their mid-section. He had no trouble at all getting rid of the rest of them. Within a matter of minutes even the missing-nin that Gato hired were rid to shreds.

Naruto watching in awe as Zabuza had no trouble taking the lifes of so many without hesitation. Half of him was scared shitless, but the other half was very envious. Envious that Zabuza had such power and courage.

Zabuza stood in the middle of all the dead, shredded up bodies that lay motionless around him. He wasn't even breathing hard, he hardly broke a sweat. But where was Gato, his short body did not lay amongst the others. Zabuza looked around for the short businessman.

"He's over there!" Naruto pointed out that Gato was making a run for it down a path. Zabuza was about to run after him, but he was a tad too late when a set of three senbon needles flew out of the trees, implanting themselves in his neck. Blood spewed out and it was made clear by his motionless body they vital area were hit by the needles.

Zabuza immediately knew who this was the doing of, "Well done, Haku, you saved me the trouble." Naruto could instantly label that this shinobi was from Kiri, just like Zabuza because of the markings on the mask she wore. "Naruto, don't be alarmed, this is my partner, Haku." Zabuza explained. Naruto nodded, understanding that she wasn't an enemy.

"Nice to meet you, Haku-san." Naruto greeted with a bright smile. Haku simply nodded before she began to remove her mask. Naruto tensed a little bit, but eased off when the mask revealed an elegant pale feminine face. She removed the sebon needle from her hair, allowing her equally elegant jet black hair that reached down to her mid back. The mask also revealed beautiful big dark-brown eyes. She had a slender frame with many curves. She looked like she was only a year older than Naruto but she was quite short for her age.

"My name is Haku, it is a honour to meet your acquaintance, Naruto-san." She spoke in a sweet voice, with an equally sweet and beautiful smile.

Later that night, Zabuza and Haku brought Naruto to their hideout. Tazuna was allowed to go on without a problem since Gato was no longer amongst the living. Zabuza was no longer ordered to kill the bridge builder since there was no one to pay him and also because it was against Naruto's wishes.

While Naruto slept peacefully in his rightful room in the hideout, Zabuza and Haku were having a serious conversation about said blond. "Zabuza-sama, please explain to me why you did all those things for the boy." Haku spoke in a soft voice even though Naruto's room was across the hall.

"Kubikiribōchō stopped me from ending Naruto's life." Zabuza explained, causing Haku to gasp, "He stopped me inches away from killing him. He told me that he such greatness in Naruto that he didn't want me to kill him."

Haku gasped again, "Has this ever happened before?"

Zabuza had to think about that for a moment before replying, "Yes, twice before, but all the years I spent with Kubikiribōchō it has never happened to me." Zabuza said. "I remember that it happened to Mangetsu Hōzuki, the most powerful shinobi ever produced in Kiri. He was able to wield all seven swords; Kubikiribōchō apparently felt the same way about him as he does for Naruto now. And it also happened to me."

Haku gasped, "Could it be?" She asked.

"Yes…" Zabuza spoke seriously, "Just like me, The Demon of the Hidden Mist, and Mangetsu Hōzuki, The Second Coming of the Demon. Naruto will be the Third Coming of the Demon." He said, causing the girl to gasp.

It took a few moments for her to swallow that big chunk of information, "Are you sure, Zabuza-sama? He isn't even from Kirigakure!" She said.

"That is true but he was chosen by the sword. I cannot do anything about that. I'm going to train him in the way of the sword." Zabuza replied, "For now that's all there is to my plan. I'll need for time to think about what we'll do in the future." He added.

"Very well, Zabuza-sama." She said before exiting the room.

Two days later, in Konohagakure, Kakashi Hatake was having the time of his life. The Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was blow his top off yelling at him for letting Naruto, who they thought was probably dead by now, go finish the mission alone. After the Hokage was done yelling at him about how irresponsible he was and how bad the mistake was he calmed down a little. "Do you understand what you've done, Kakashi?" Sarutobi asked the gray haired Jounin, "You've put the entire village at risk by allowing our alone Jinchuriki go on an A-ranked mission…ALONE!" He yelled.

Damn it, I really screwed up, didn't I, Kakashi thought to himself as he scratched the back of his head, "I was just following the law, Hokage-sama" Kakashi replied, "He didn't have a single thought of turn back on the mission. Anyways, he has the freedom of speech and the freedom of actions. And since he was technically assigned to this mission since he is part of Team 7 a.k.a Team Kakashi, then he had every right to continue the mission with or without the rest of the team."

Hiruzen had to admit that the young Jounin had a point, Naruto did have all those rights and it wasn't all that much of Kakashi's fault has he had previous thought, "So you just let him go alone? You could have gone with him and continued the mission."

Kakashi didn't have to think for a reply to that, he already knew what he had to say, "True, but as much as I would have loved to have gone with him, it was part of my job as their Jounin sensei and team leader to end the mission then and there." Kakashi replied.

"Very well, Kakashi, you've proven you're point and you are clearly not the one to blame." Hiruzen spoke, a slight smirk appeared behind Kakashi's mask, "But if Naruto fails to return within a week's time, we will send out search parties to look for him. If there is no evidence proving that he is dead then he will marked as a missing-nin." The old man added.

Kakashi gulped and held his breathe before nodding. The Hokage dismissed him before Kakashi took his leave from the Hokage's office. "Please, Naruto, be save…"

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**I know it's quite a bit to take in for the first chapter, but trust me, everything will be explained. I'm sorry if it went a little quickly. I just wanted to get the plot out there. And the chapter will for sure get longer. Please don't flame for a while, just until you really get to see the true potential of the story.**

**If you have any feedback or suggestions, my hears are open! **


	2. Progress!

Two Halves of the Same Sword

Chapter II: Progress

Naruto had spent the last two days getting to know Zabuza and Haku. They tried becoming friends, but it hard and awkward between Naruto and Zabuza, seeing how the older shinobi recently tried to kill the blond Genin. But he and Haku had gotten quite close during the small time span. She told him that she had a kekkei genkai known as Hyouton (Ice release). Zabuza explained that he was a missing-nin on the run with Haku; his partner was Kubikiribōchō the same sword that saved Naruto's life two days ago. He was also an impressive ANBU ranked shinobi and he was also part of a very powerful assassination group from Kirigakure known as the seven swordsmen of the mist.

"So, Naruto…" Zabuza spoke, "What do you think of being trained by me and Haku?" He asked.

Naruto was taken aback by the older man's words. He had to take quite a long time to think about it. A man that recently tried to kill him was offering to train him, "But, why me?" He asked.

Zabuza was expecting the blond to ask that, "Because Kubikiribōchō sees amazing potential in you as a swordsman," Zabuza replied, "I can train you to easily become one of the best kenjutsu masters of the entire shinobi world." He added.

Naruto thought about it for a moment, before speaking, "You're offer seems very tempting and all, but what's the catch?"

"No catch at all," Zabuza replied with a smirk, "The only small thing is that you have to travel with us, and that doesn't seem to be a problem after you told us everything that happened to you and how badly Konoha treated you." He added.

"Who said I didn't want to go back to Konoha?" Naruto asked, glaring at Zabuza's harsh words.

The older man was about, but Haku butted in, "I'm sure that Naruto doesn't hate Konoha, but the people in it, am I right Naruto-san?" She said, Naruto replied with a simple nod. He was happy that someone finally understood him.

"Fine, fine, fine, but that won't change the fact that we will be going to Konoha with you," Zabuza stated, "If we train you, it will be where we want." Zabuza added.

"Then where do you have any mind?" Naruto asked.

Zabuza thought for a moment before answer, "We will train you around the Wave country for a year or so and then we can head over to Kumogakure." He replied, mentally patting himself on the back for thinking of such a plan in such a small amount of time.

Naruto rose an eyebrow, he was mentally questioning Zabuza's plan, "Aren't you wanted in all the hidden villages?"

"Yes, I am, but Kumo owes me a favor, actually to be precise, Killer Bee owes me." He replied.

Naruto rose his eyebrow again, "Killer Bee?" He questioned.

"Yeah, he's the adoptive little brother of the Yondaime Raikage." Zabuza explained, causing Naruto to gasp. "He's also a Jinchuriki, and a master of dual wielding. He can teach you the art of wielding dual swords." He explained.

"Woah! I really want to meet this Bee guy now!" Naruto exclaimed, fist pumping the air in excitement.

Zabuza had to cock his head slightly to dodge Naruto's right hook that wasn't meant for him, "Hey, watch where you're swinging that thing, Gaki!" Zabuza yelled, "But before we go to Kumo, Haku and I have to train you as much as we can in a year.

"Hai, Zabuza-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. Zabuza smirked under his mask when he heard the suffix that Naruto added to his name, "I'll work harder than ever! Believe it!" He had a very determined look planted on his face that Haku was very envy of.

Zabuza sweat dropped, Damn, that catch phrase he added at the end really killed it, He thought flatly, "Yeah, yeah, sure thing kid, just never say that little catch phrase you got there. It'll make you look like a fool in the future, trust me kid."

"Hai, Zabuza-sensei, I promise I'll never say it again!" Naruto said with the same envious look he sported before.

Zabuza dug into his pocket looking for a certain object, "But before we do anything, let's find something out, shall we?" Zabuza said, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket, "Ah, perfect, I still have one left!"

"What is that, sensei?" Naruto asked, eyeing the small piece of paper.

Haku noticed what the paper was and questioned him, "Are you sure he's ready for that kind of advanced form of chakra control?"

"Look at his eyes, Haku," Zabuza replied. Haku did as she was told and look at the blonde's big beautiful cerulean eyes that were still look at the paper, trying to analyze it, "The determination in his eyes tell me that he's ready to maneuver around any obstacle that ends up in his path to the top. Say, Gaki, what kind of chakra control techniques of you learned from your previous sensei?" He asked.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei, taught of the tree climbing and water walking techniques. That's about it. We're fresh out of the academy after all." Naruto replied.

Zabuza's eyes widened, "You're sensei from Konoha was Kakashi of the Sharingan?" Zabuza asked eager to earn an answer.

Naruto raised an eyebrow again, "Sharingan? What's that? He's name was Kakashi Hatake and he always had one eye covered by his headband and he had long spikey gray hair." Naruto explained.

"Yep, that's him for sure," Zabuza said, showing Naruto a certain page in the latest version of the Kiri bingo book. Naruto took it and saw a picture of Kakashi and his profile.

_Name: Kakashi Hatake_

_Affiliation: Konohagakure_

_Rank: Jounin A-Rank_

_Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan(Three totems)_

_Age:26_

_Gender: Male_

_DOB: September 15_

_Height 181 cm_

_Weight 67.5kg_

_Kakashi Hatake is a retired ANBU and currently a Jounin from Konohagakure. He impressively graduated from the academy at the age of five and acquired the rank of Chunnin at the age of six. He obtained his nickname "The Copycat Ninja" by becoming the man known to have copied a thousand jutsu with his Sharingan. He is has a "Flee on Sight" status._

Naruto finished reading the profile before replying, "Yeah, that's Kakashi-sensei for sure. I never thought he could be such a famous shinobi. He always acted so lazy and he was late to every team meeting."

"Okay, so back to the main subject," Zabuza said, offering the paper to Naruto, "This is special chakra paper that will tell us what your chakra affinity is. If the paper turn to ash you're affinity is fire. If the paper splits in two, you're affinity will be water. If the paper wrinkles, you're affinity is Lightning. If it turns to dirt and crumbles away, you're affinity will be Earth. And finally, if it becomes damp, you're affinity will be Water. Simple enough right?" Zabuza explained.

Naruto simple nodded before taking the paper in his hand. "Just focused some chakra into the paper and watch the magic." Zabuza explained. Naruto nodded before focusing a small amount of chakra into the paper he held. There was a moment of pin drop silence in Zabuza's bedroom before the piece of paper…split in two, "So it seem as you're chakra affinity is wind." Zabuza said as Naruto caught the two separate pieces in his hand.

"Woah!" Naruto said in awe as he analyzed the two pieces of paper. He tried focusing chakra into again, wanting to see the paper split in two again. But it never happened. Zabuza and Haku stared in shocked at what happened to the paper next.

Back in Konoha, Kakashi was sneezing none stop a few minutes ago, but it suddenly stopped. "I'm either catching a bad cold or someone can't stop talking about me." He said as he continued his walk around the village. He slouched over before pulling his favorite orange book from his ninja pouch. Icha Icha paradise was his favorite series of all time. And what made it ten times better was that it was written by someone in this very village, Jiraiya of the Sennin. "Hm, I wonder where Jiraiya-sama is, he hasn't been in the village for a while." Kakashi was snapped out of his line of out loud thoughts by someone sneezing not too far from him.

Kakashi walked around the corner to encounter, the said Sennin, "Bless you, Jiraiya-sama." Kakashi said, shocking the old toad sage a little.

"Ah, Kakashi, what a pleasure, I haven't see you in a while!" Jiraiya said. "I heard that little Naruto was put in your Genin team, but what's more of a surprise is that I heard you passed your team this year, don't tell you showed pity to your old sensei's kid!" Jiraiya added.

"Not a chance, Jiraiya-sama, you know I was never the type to play favorite." Kakashi replied.

Jiraiya nodded and released a little chuckle, "So where is he?" He asked.

Kakashi frowned behind his masked. "Not in the village." He replied before explained to Jiraiya what happened in the Wave country and how Naruto is either dead or still there trying to complete the mission. He also explained how it wasn't his fault and how Naruto had every right to complete the mission.

"I don't blame you, Kakashi, I was once leader a team myself and I understand that you did what you had to in order to protect your Genin." Jiraiya said, "Don't worry about Naruto." He added before he began to walk away.

Kakashi was about to run after the old toad sage, but instead he spoke, "Jiraiya-sama, where are you going?!"

"To the Wave Country of course." He replied, turn to look at Kakashi with a smile full of promise. "But after I finish a previous assignment I had assigned to me in the Rice Field country. I should be in the Wave country in a month or two, depending on how long this assignment takes. Tell the old man not to send any hunter-nin or squad after Naruto, I'll take care of it myself." He added

Kakashi was about to retort something but he was stopped by more words from Jiraiya, "Believe in me, Kakashi." He finally said before walking off.

Back in Zabuza's bed room, he and Haku couldn't take their eyes off the paper and their minds off of what just happened, "Is this possible for such a young age, Zabuza-sama?" Haku asked, not being able to peel her eyes of the paper that the blond held.

It took a few seconds for the Kiri-nin to snap out of his trail of thought and reply to her, "I'm not sure, Haku, but this is certainly a surprise." He replied.

"Damn it," Naruto said, dropping the heavier piece of paper, "It didn't cut again!" He whined a little.

Zabuza looked at him in shocked, "What are you talking about, Gaki!? This is amazing!" Zabuza said, "You've acquired two elemental affinities." He explained.

"Really?!" Naruto asked eagerly, "Is that why the paper is all wet instead of cutting in half again? What element is it when it gets wet, oh yeah, water."

"That mean you might be able to use a third element, Ice release, Hyouton, like me." Haku stated.

"That's awesome, now I can be just like you, Haku-sensei!" Naruto almost yelled in excitement. She simply nodded; still in a quite a bit of shock about what just happened.

He may have the same kekkei genkai as me, she thought.

A month passed since they found out about Naruto having two elemental affinities, wind and water. Therefore he should be able to access a third affinity which is also a blood limit, ice release, Hyouton. Over the months Zabuza has trained him about the basics of kenjutsu. Naruto was working with a plain katana that was a much wider than just an ordinary one. Zabuza taught him the basic blocks and slashes. He also taught him how to be agile and fast while holding his katana. They worked on speed, agility and strength work outs to boost Naruto's nature stats.

Zabuza was very impressed by Naruto's chakra reserve; it was much larger than he ever thought. It was around three times of his own. Despite his large reserve with Haku's help, he had earned very good chakra control, helping him add many jutsu to his arsenal. Zabuza was easily able to teach him and help him master hiding in the mist jutsu. Also, he master the water clone jutsu that used a lot less chakra than shadow clones and he also had a very good range with them, with his chakra reserve he can make double the amount of them then he could with his shadow clones. He also mastered Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique. And he was currently still trying to master Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique.

Haku taught him about pressure point in the human body which would help him easily disable any enemy and make many of their main muscles useless for a certain amount of time. It also helped him master the silent killing technique that he had yet to actually try on a living organism. But from what Zabuza could see he could easily sneak up on a high Chunnin or low Jounin level shinobi and kill them with the technique. Naruto wasn't very fond of killing but he understood well that if the time came that he had to take a life, he would to protect one of his precious people.

Naruto was standing in the middle of a clearing with Zabuza standing five feet away from him. He started gathering chakra, "Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" He said before mist started to roll in, covering the entire clearing and more.

Zabuza had to admit that he was very impressed with Naruto's progress. He had just completely mastered the hidden mist jutsu. The only way to do so was to use the jutsu without an identifiable water source around, which Naruto had just achieved, "Very well done, Naruto." Zabuza praised. Even thought he was only five feet away from his student he couldn't see him through the mist. Even though Zabuza had used the jutsu so much that his eyes were mostly immune to the jutsu.

"Who are you talking to?" Naruto asked. Zabuza's eyes were wide, feeling the cold blade against his neck. He tensed up and looked, only using his eyes to see Naruto with his katana placed against Zabuza's neck.

"Very well done, Gaki." Zabuza came into the clearing clapping. The mist started to roll away as Naruto released the jutsu.

"Damn it, sensei." Naruto said. He had no problem slice his blade through the throat of the water clone that Zabuza placed after Naruto used the hidden mist jutsu. When the blade cut through its next the clone fell to the ground with a splash.

"You have truly mastered the silent killing technique as well as the hidden mist jutsu." Zabuza praised.

Naruto returned his katana to its rightful place at his side, "But you're always one step ahead, aren't you, sensei?" Naruto said with a smirk.

Zabuza chuckled and nodded, "Let's see how much better you've gotten, Gaki." He taunted before grabbing the blade of Kubikiribōchō and getting in one of his best kenjutsu stances.

Naruto drew his katana and readied himself in the stance that Zabuza taught him. It was a basic kenjutsu stance but was still very affective. Naruto learned that when he unarmed a group of bandits that were causing ruckus in a small village in the Wave country, where they still currently were.

The stand was basic, where he drew his blade and had is ready, holding upwards in his right hand. He had his left arm in front of him, ready to block. If the enemy was really dangerous then he would dual wield a kunai in that hand. He had his right foot, which was the stronger one, behind the left one and all his weight was on his right foot as he leaned back.

There was a pin drop silence before Naruto rushed at his sensei with the killer intent of a mid-level Jounin. His speed at certain increased a lot over the two months he had trained. He covered the twenty feet between them in an instant. When he arrive in front of Zabuza, he already had Kubikiribōchō drown and was up, ready to intercept his blow. Naruto jumped in mid-air, ready to collide, but when the blade drew centimetres away from each other Naruto vanished in a blur.

Zabuza had wide eyes at the incredible speed of his student. He had never seen him move like that. Zabuza felt him coming up behind him and turned to intercept the blow. He was just in time to block his student's katana. The strike had such a force to it that it almost pushed Zabuza back

I'm really underestimating this Gaki, He thought as he fought back Naruto's strike, Wait, what? He thought turn to look back at another Naruto rushing at him from the opposite direction, Damn it! He used all of his power to push the Naruto he was clashing sword with to stumble back a little, giving him room to jump. He was able to avoid the second Naruto, but his worries were far from over as felt another Naruto coming from above.

Zabuza rose Kubikiribōchō up to meet with the third Naruto. But he pushed his luck, seeing how he was on the bottom. The third Naruto used his strength to push Zabuza back to the group, where he met up with the two others. When he hit the ground, he rolled to the side, causing the Naruto from above to hit the group hard. The two others double teamed him but now that he had room, he had no problem taking care of them. They came in to strike with their katanas but Zabuza ducked, dodging them both in unison with such grace. With a single horizontal swing, he took them both out, causing them to poof into clouds of smoke.

I knew it, shadow clones, Zabuza thought, so the real one must be…, He thought but it was too late as the third and final Naruto came from behind him. Zabuza used his speed to meet up Naruto's katana, but he never came. Zabuza felt Naruto behind him and swerved around to block him but he never came again. Zabuza eyes widened as he turned to see Naruto coming at him, his katana raised and ready for a downward strike. But somehow Zabuza was able to match his speed and block the strike.

"You've been on the defense the entire time, sensei, you're getting too old for this." Naruto taunted with a smile.

"You're getting too cocky for this, cocky." Zabuza replied flatly.

Naruto puffed his cheeks, before replying, "I'm not getting too cocky or arrogant, I'm just teasing you, sensei!" They held their blades in an endless struggle to push passed the defense of the other but neither of them was budging. They both jumped back in unison before return their blades to their rightful places. They both bowed in unison.

"You've gotten stronger, Gaki." Zabuza praised.

Naruto smile, "Meh, maybe, or maybe you just got a whole lot weaker!" Naruto teased.

"So you're saying you didn't get stronger?" Zabuza asked, cocking his eyebrow (I know he doesn't have any but you know what I mean!)

"No, I'm just saying that you're getting slower." Naruto retorted.

"Well that's what it feels like to improve your skill to such a degree that you have." Zabuza praised, "You are no longer a force to be reckoned with. You are at least at a low Jounin level, Gaki." He explained.

Naruto smiled but clutched his fist, "But I need to get stronger if I want to protect my precious people."

"You've got a good reason to get stronger, Naruto." Zabuza said. "Don't let go of that reason or you will fall to the darkness. If you let go of that reason then you will stop growing stronger, everyone needs a reason."

Naruto thought about his sensei's deep words before asking, "What's your reason to get stronger?"

Zabuza had to think for a while, which he was ashamed of because of the wise words he had just said, "Well I guess I want to get the bloodline war so Haku can live happily." Zabuza said with a smile.

Naruto smile, "I think that's a good reason, sensei," He said, "I'll help you with that one for sure. Once I get strong enough."

Zabuza couldn't help but smile behind him mask at his student's statement, "Don't worry, Gaki, we'll make you a true shinobi. Once we find you a wind style teacher Haku will be able to teach her Hyouton, and then you'll see, you'll really be kicking some ass." Zabuza replied, "I bet that ice release could really add a few upgrades to your kenjutsu!"

There sensei-student bonding moment was interrupted by a manly house that came from the edge of the clearing, "Naruto-kun…" It was a manly voice so it couldn't have been Haku. Immediately, their hands flew to the handles of their rightful swords and they instantly flew into their kenjutsu stances. They scanned the area to find their hidden foe.

It didn't take long for their eyes to come upon their unhidden foe. An old man with long spikey gray hair that went down to his waist stood at the edge of the clearing where the voice came. He had a large scroll attached the back of his waist, it was probably used for sealing. He wore red wooden sandals and a red and gray sage battle gown. He had an add headband that Naruto had never seen before. But the man was oddly familiar to Naruto, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Zabuza's eyes grew wide when he released who their visitor was,

"Jiraiya of the Sannin."

* * *

I hope you all really enjoyed that chapter. I really enjoyed reading your reviews; they were all really helpful in boosting my poor ego! I hope to see more for this chapter.

I'm trying to write as much as I can before the winter break ends. So don't expect these updates to be as frequent when school gets into gear next month.

As you may have noticed I didn't use the Japanese style of written. For example instead of saying "Water style" the Japanese style would say, "Suiton:" I just really hated it when fanfic writer would write it in the Japanese style and not put the English version and the readers wouldn't know what the jutsu is and would have to look it up. So instead of just doing it in Japanese I'll be just writing the English version of the jutsus if that's alright. If you guys as my readers don't like that then please tell me and I'll start writing jutsu like this "Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu(Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique) So just let me know which one your prefer.

And finally, happy new year everyone!

Thanks! And until next time! Remember to REVIEW!


	3. Clueless Love!

Two Halves of the Same Sword

**So for those that PMed me saying that Naruto shouldn't be able to you Hyouton because he doesn't have the blood, that will be explained in the next chapter. And because of this, I will also be changing the pairing. It will no longer be NarutoxHaku. So if anyone has a suggestion for what the pairing could be, please leave it in a review, my ears are wide open!**

**Now enjoy the chapter! ^^**

* * *

Chapter III: Clueless Love

It has been six months since the surprise visit of a certain toad sage. Zabuza and Naruto were surprised when the old toad sage confronted them at the clearing but they were happy that he declared himself peaceful and came by no harms means. Zabuza knew that even he couldn't not come to match the skill and power that the Sanin must possess.

He came looking for Naruto to bring him back to Konoha. But after hearing Naruto's side of the story he felt sorry the boy and showed him pity. Instead of bringing him back to Konoha, he agreed to train him, much to Zabuza's happiness. Having one of the three Sannin as a sensei was far too much to ask, but Naruto got it without even wanting it.

It Jiraiya about a month to trust the mist duo, he was able to trust Naruto very easily, seeing how he knew about his past and because he was from Konoha. Jiraiya knew about Naruto's parents, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. But telling Naruto would probably crush him, along with his goal and reasons. Seeing how well Naruto was progressing in becoming a powerful shinobi, Jiraiya planned to keep it a secret at least for the next few years.

Over the first three months Jiraiya helped Naruto with his win affinity, which neither Zabuza, nor Haku could help him with. Jiraiya's chakra affinities are Fire and Earth, but he carries scrolls on all the elements which come in really handy when he needs to train someone that doesn't share the same affinities as him. He learned three new wind release jutsu. He learned and mastered Wind Release: Divine Wind, Wind Release: Great Breakthrough and he was currently trying to master Wind Release: Pressure Damage. They were all high level wind ninjutsu

After learning wind style, Jiraiya thought it would be smart to teach him barrier ninjutsu. Something that he's mother excelled at when she was in the ranks of Konoha. So he thought him the basic Barrier: Canopy Method Formation. It would really come in handing in the future in case Naruto ever had to take the defensive in a fight.

For the other three months, he continued to train in both water and wind release ninjutsu. But he mostly concentrated on taijutsu for those months. Getting a lot of help from both Zabuza and Jiraiya. taijutsu had become fairly easy for Naruto, having trained his speed and strength in his first few months with Zabuza.

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!" Naruto cried as he flipped through a series of hand signs. The clearing he stood in was quickly engulfed in a large wind storm that blew trees that surrounded the clearing wildly around. When the wind died down a few seconds later, tree trunks lay around the clearing, Naruto took notice that the large cleared had more than doubled in diameter.

I'm getting really close to mastering this jutsu, Naruto thought with a smile on his face.

"Well done, Gaki, you're almost there, just a little more practice and we will have mastered it." Jiraiya said, jumping out of what seemed to be nowhere, "It's not an easy feat to master such a powerful jutsu at such a young age."

"Well it's not hard when you're travelling instead of staying in a village, because all there is to do around here is train, so that's all I do anyway, Ero-Sennin." Naruto replied.

Jiraiya was about to retorted, when Haku interrupted, "Zabuza-sama wanted me to come get you two; we will be heading into a town now." Haku said, coming from behind a tree that was lucky to not have been blown up by Naruto's jutsu. She released the bad friction between the teacher and student, "D- did I interrupt something?" She asked before sweat dropping.

Hearing about going into a town cut Jiraiya out of his angry state. Instead he began jumping towards Haku happily like a little girl, "Finally, I haven't been in a town for months! I can finally get some research done for my next book!" He exclaimed happily as he jump past Haku and towards their campsite.

Naruto had an emotionless expression on his face as he watched the pathetic excuse of a 'Legendary Sannin' act like a little girl, "I swear the Sannin are totally overrated people…" He said, Haku nodding, agreeing with her blond companion before they both made their way to follow the old toad sage.

A few hours later, they had finally arrived in the town. It was only an hour walk from their campsite but thanks to Zabuza they got lost quite a few times. They were lucky to have Jiraiya with them, because of his giant seal scroll, they just simple sealed all their belongings in there so they didn't have to carry them everywhere they went.

"Isn't this a little risky?" Naruto asked as they walked through the busy town, "Zabuza is really wanted in this country. And I'm basically a missing-nin as well."

Zabuza shook his head, "Don't worry about it, Gaki; this town is really isolated from the rest of the nations. They don't worry with shinobi or samurai. They live peacefully without any shinobi permanently living here. So I doubt we will run into any problems."

Jiraiya nodded, "He's right, Gaki, just relax for once, you haven't been in a town for eight months and you have been training nonstop." Jiraiya eyed the place, probably looking for a place to do some decent research. He finally found what he was looking for. It was a flashy purple building; Naruto noticed many women were walking in, as well as men. But they were all a lot older than he was, "Anyways, I'll see you the hotel that we booked tonight." He said before making his run for the building.

The three others sweat dropped, as they watch the pathetic Sannin trying to sweet talk some women that were standing outside the building, "Think I'll go find a ramen stand." Naruto said before he began to walk off.

He didn't take more than a step when his collar was wacked from behind, "Where do you think you're going?" Zabuza asked, pulling back towards them.

"I'm going to go find someplace where I can eat some ramen." Naruto replied innocently.

Zabuza shook his head, "No way, you've come too far to allow a single bowl of ramen to get to slow and weak again." Zabuza lectured, "You have to continue eating healthy like you have for the past eight months."

Naruto pouted sadly, "Please, Zabuza-sensei," He help the' please; for a few seconds, "Just one bowl of miso ramen!" He begged.

"No, is a now, Gaki, you're not getting anywhere near those ramen stands." Zabuza said, but he wasn't convincing Naruto, "Fine, go ahead and eat your ramen, but if you do, I won't train you anymore!" He said. That was a deal breaker. Naruto instantly started making sure that there weren't any ramen stands near him. Zabuza smirked and chuckled at the reaction of his student, "Anyways, I'm going to go check out some dango stands and try and find some information on what has happened in the world lately. Haku, keep an eye on him." He said before waving goodbye and taking his leave into the crowd.

"So where do you want to go, Haku?" Naruto asked, folding his arms behind his head.

Haku was silent for a moment, before replying, "Naruto-san, what happened to your Konoha headband?" She asked.

Naruto was a little taken aback by her sudden question. He looked at his reflection into a nearby window. His hair had grown quite a bit over the months. Jiraiya continued to tell him that his hair really resembled a lot the hair of the Yondaime Hokage's. He got rid of the jumpsuit; it was one of Zabuza's conditions to training him. Plus, it didn't really help his silent killing technique. Instead he wore a shirt net shirt underneath an open white sports jacket. He also sported a pair of slightly baggy ninja pants with quite a few pockets, and finally a pair of navy blue shinobi sandals. "Oh, that old thing, remember when Jiraiya left for a week before he started training me?" He said, Haku nodded, "Well, he went back to Konoha to show them that the found my headband and my old clothes. So they announced me dead. We had to sell it of course so we had to pour blood all over my clothes." He laughed a little at his last comment.

"Oh, I see." Haku said.

"Why did you wait so long to ask me?" He asked, it had been eight months seen that had happened.

She looked a little uneasy, but really when did she not? "Well we haven't really had the time to talk since Jiraiya-sama came and you started training day and night with him and Zabuza-sama." She replied.

"Oh, I see." Naruto said. By now they didn't noticed they were mindlessly walking through the town as they talked. It was relevantly small and very isolated from everywhere else. The population must have been around two thousand, which was pretty high for such a small town.

They continued their mindless walk around the fairly crowded town in silence. They would each occasionally point out something and make small talk about it. They just finished laugh about a comment that Naruto made about an old man that reminded him about Ero-Sannin when a group a four girls were approaching them, going the other direction. Naruto had to admit that the girls were pretty, nothing like the fan-girls in Konoha. They were all eyeing Naruto, their eyes going up and down him body. He's face heated up, causing a light blush to form on his face. He had never gotten this kind of attention before. Now it was their turn to blush, the girls were also point at him and whispering. They were also giggling as they eyed him.

Haku noticed this and was pretty envious of how much attention they were giving Naruto, "Haku, what do you think those girls are talking about?" Naruto whispered nervously to Haku.

"I think they like you, Naruto-san." She replied simply.

"L-like me?" Naruto asked nervously, "How can you tell?"

Haku was ready to face palm herself, but she kept her composure, how could he be so clueless about girl? She thought, I have to admit that Naruto-san is one of the most handsome men I've met, she thought, "Well, I guess the way you could tell is by the signals they are sending." She replied. Naruto rose an eyebrow, "For example, they are giggling, they weren't giggling until they saw you. Also, they haven't taken their eyes off you seen we turned the corner." She explained.

"Oh, I see, those signals would have been impossible to see without your help, Haku, thanks." Naruto said with a smile, "But how did you see them? Why don't they make it simpler so I can understand?" Naruto asked.

"Well it's easy for me to see because I'm a girl, you see." She replied. Naruto nodded, that makes sense, girl should understand other girls, better than guys do, "And girls are weird, they don't show feelings easily." She added.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Why not?"

I can tell that he's gotten much smarter and wise over the months, but apparently in every subject except for love, Haku thought, that's what you get for having Zabuza-sama as your sensei, "Because their scared."

"Of what?"

Haku couldn't answer because the group of girls were approaching them. The girls were pushing a certain brunette to the front, they were all attempting to hide behind her. She was very attractive in Naruto's books. She wore some simple civilian clothes in bright girly colours. But Naruto could tell that she wasn't all about makeup and hair. She looked like she was very active as well, "Hi…" She spoke nervously in a very sweet voice. The dark blush on her face became crimson red as she saw Naruto's eyes examining her.

"Um…hi." Naruto replied, he had stopped walking now. All the girls bursted out in giggles when they heard Naruto talk. Naruto had a confused look on his face, what did I say? He thought.

They all ran off giggling and whispering things that Naruto, nor Haku couldn't hear, even with their sensitive shinobi hearing, strange.

"Was it something I said?" Naruto asked.

Haku shook her head, "No, it's what you look like." She replied, Naruto looked confused, "They think you're cute." Naruto blushed quite a bit at her comment. Haku blushed as well, realizing what she just said.

They stood in that awkward silence for a few moments before Zabuza walked around the corner with a hand full of stick with dango on them. He was already chewing a mouth full of it when he noticed them standing there behind awkward, "Oi, what's up with you two?" He asked after swallowing his mouth full.

"Uh…nothing..." Naruto replied, looking elsewhere.

Zabuza knew that wasn't it but he wasn't going to push it, "Ok then…" Zabuza said flatly as he joined them in their awkward moment, "So…Gaki, you perfected that Pressure Damage technique yet?" Zabuza asked, desperate for conversation.

"No, but I'm getting there." Naruto replied, "I should perfect it in a few days if I keep training how I am." He explained.

Zabuza nodded, "That's good to hear." He said before they were once again engulfed by the awkward silence, he turned to Haku, "You didn't let him eat ramen, did you?" He narrowed his eyes at her, trying to see through her expressionless face.

She shook her head and raised her hands in innocence, "No, I would never go against your will, Zabuza-sama!" She replied.

Zabuza didn't have any time to reply when there was an explosion, followed by the earth around them shaking, "What the hell was that!?" He cried before him and Naruto drew their rightful sword and Haku drew a few senbon needles.

"Trouble?" Haku asked.

Naruto began to run towards the large cloud of smoke that appeared near the place the explosion occurred, "Only one wait to find out." He said, being followed by Haku and Zabuza.

They weren't about to take the main road because of all the civilians running the opposite direction, so they resorted to taking the rooftops. Even with his two second head start, Naruto still had a huge lead on his two companions. He was by far the fastest of them, even faster and Jiraiya.

They arrived at the scene, a familiar purple building, and one name came to all of their minds, "Jiraiya…"

They jumped own from the rooftops that they were standing on to see a crowd of civilians crowding around the place but they made sure to keep their distance. There was a large chariot parked in front of the building and large hole in the wall. Attached to the chariot were two brown horses, "What the hell happened here?" Naruto asked no one but he expected one of the civilians to speak out.

"A group of missing-nin broke into that building and their taking hostages." A man spoke out from the front of the crowd.

Naruto eyed the building, "It's the perverted building Ero-Sennin walking into." He stated, "He must still be in there."

"What should we do?" Haku asked him. After dealing with so many groups of bandits and missing-nin wreaking havoc somewhere, they learned that Naruto was very strategic and had a good idea of what being a leader meant and good leadership skills to go with that. Therefore they made Naruto the leader in situations like these.

It didn't take Naruto long to think of a plan, "Haku, Zabuza, you two go in there any. Use the Hidden Mist Technique and the Silent Killing Technique so they kill anyone." He instructed, they nodding, understanding what they had to do, "Meanwhile, I'll stay out here in case they try to make a quick escape."

Haku and Zabuza understood what had to be done so they rushed in. Next thing he knew, there was mist coming out of the giant hole in the wall. A few seconds later there were men screaming from inside. A few of the civilians back away, scared, "Don't be scared, we're the good guys." Naruto told them, not taking his eyes off the building, to make sure that no one went in or came out.

Just when Naruto thought it was over a figure came running out of the mist. A man he had never seen before. He was dressed as if he was from Iwagakure; he even had an Iwa headband with a scar through the symbol. The Iwa missing-nin ran out of the building and jumped into the chariot. In an instant the horses started to run at full speed, pulling the chariot. The crowd of civilian moved out of the way to allow the chariot to get through, not wanting to get run over.

One second Naruto was standing near where the chariot was, then he was running behind the chariot. There was no way just anyone would catch a chariot with such horse power. But Naruto had no problem catching the chariot on foot.

He drew his katana as he ran just behind the chariot, not wanting the Iwa nin to know that he was trailing him. With a single horizontal slash, he took off one of the four wheels that supported the chariot. The chariot flew quickly flew off balance because of the mission wheel. It slid on the dirt road before flipping onto its side before skipping on the road, almost colliding into a nearby house.

The Iwa nin was fast to climb out of the chariot. He held his bleeding arm, he must have been injured in the impact, "W-what are you? A samurai?" The Iwa nin asked, eyeing the wide katana at Naruto's waist.

Naruto simply shook his head before flipping through a series of hand sign, "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" He cried before a large amount of wind was shot at the Iwa nin. It wasn't near the amount of wind that Pressure Damage can produce without holding back, but Naruto was at a disadvantage seeing how he didn't want to wreck the town.

"Too easy," The Iwa nin retorted, before flipping through some hand signs himself, before crying, "Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall" He slapped his open palms on the ground before a large wall of earth came up, causing the wind to go around it. The wind ripped the chariot to pieces, freeing the minorly injured horses.

"Get out of here," He told he horses before they seemingly nodded before running out of town.

The Iwa nin grunted as he brought down his wall, "Damn you, those were expensive!" He said, before flipping through a few hand signs, "Earth Release: Fist Rock Technique!" He cried before rocks from the group engulfed his fist. He rushed at Naruto with average Chunnin speed.

"Too slow…" Naruto said, drawing his katana. He took a single step before he blurred out of everyone's view. A single slash as he passed the Iwa nin was all he did to stop him in his track. He then blurred back into everyone's vision in the spot where the Iwa nin stood before. Naruto half withdrew his katana.

The Iwa nin just stood there with wide eyes, frozen in his punching stance, "W-who are you?" He asked. There was no answer. His rock fist suddenly cracked and then crumbled to the ground into dozens of pieces. The Iwa nin snapped out of his little daze, turning back to Naruto, he started flipping through some hand signs, "Earth Release: Earth Spear!" He cried before a long spear made of earth formed in his hand. He rose it up over his head, launching it at Naruto at the same speed he was running at before.

Naruto didn't say anything as the spear approached him, heading straight for his head. He simply shifted his head, narrowly dodging the spear, using very little effort. The Iwa nin grunted but not before Naruto blurred out of sight, he looked around for the blond shinobi. But not a second later, he felt a cold, hard blade stab his liver, "Game over…" Naruto said, before pulling his blade out of the man's liver.

All the civilians around winced or looked away in horror. Naruto's face was expressionless. He had killed before; it wasn't something new to him. He simply pulled a scroll from one of the pockets on his pants and extended it on the ground. He placed the man body on the scroll before flipping through a series of hand signs. The man's body then puffed out of existence. He nodded before returning the rolled up scroll into its rightful pocket.

All the civilians around him began clapping and whistling in joy. Naruto wasn't used to this sort praise; he hasn't been in a town for so many months after all. He just began bowing uncontrollably while scratching the back of his head. He had a stupid smile on his face that had nervous written all over it.

Zabuza and Haku stepped out of the building; they were instantly showered with praise as well. Zabuza blushed and scratched the back of his head. Haku simply tried not to make much eye contact. Zabuza was carrying a knocked out Jiraiya who held a bottle of sake. Naruto could smell it from where he stood. Haku held a few scroll, probably where she sealed the bodies of the other nins.

They met up with Naruto in the middle of the big cheering crowd, "You didn't have too much trouble, did you, Gaki?" Zabuza teased, slinging Jiraiya over his shoulder, but made sure that he didn't accidently stab him with Kubikiribōchō, who was attached to his back.

Naruto snorted, "You wish, Zabuza-sensei, what about you guys? It must have been easy since I had to take on the leader." Naruto said.

Zabuza laughed, "You wish, Gaki that was a piece of cake." He replied, "He only had a few hostages that had a few scratches but Haku fixed them up really good." He added, and Haku nodded.

"What did they want anyway?" Naruto asked.

Zabuza's expression became dark, "I interrogated one before we killed them." He stated, "Apparently there's some slave trade going on in Iwa." He explained.

Naruto frowned, he hated when people got hurt, especially innocent people. But slaves…that was on a whole different level, "We have to stop it." He said.

"I second that, Gaki," Zabuza replied, "That's exactly why we are going to Kumogakure."

Naruto rose an eyebrow, "Huh, why?" He asked.

Zabuza face palm, "Don't you remember I told you Killer Bee owes me, so I'm going to get him to teach you how to duel wield." He replied, "He's the best in all of the nations."

Naruto had a huge smile curl up on his face, "Then what are we waiting for, let's go!" He said.

"Well help me carry this old geezer to his hotel room," Zabuza said, grunting a little under the weight of the Sannin, "He weights a ton!"

Four days later, the four were seen eating lunch in an unknown forest a few hours away from Kumogakure, "And everyone broke out into cheers!" Naruto yelled, "It was the best feeling ever!"

Jiraiya let out a little chuckle, "I see, you guys sure had quite the time in that town while I was out cold."

"Speaking of which, you could have helped us out instead of being the lazy old geezer you usually are!" Zabuza cursed with a mouth full of fish and rice.

Jiraiya raised his hands up in innocence, "Hey, I was just pretending, I wanted to see if you three could handle it yourself!" He said.

"No, you weren't you old geezer, you're such a liar!" Zabuza cried, flailing his chopstick around angrily.

"So, Gaki, I heard you were quite the ladies' man!" Jiraiya teased.

Naruto stood up in annoyance, "Tell me who, Ero-Sennin, or I'll pull your tongue so heard people will call you the true toad sage!" Nartuo threated, pointing his chopsticks at his older sensei.

"A little bird told me," Jiraiya replied, causing everyone to break out into laughter except of course for Naruto, who sat back done.

When the laughing died, Jiraiya spoke, "Zabuza, explain to me why we are going to Kumo if you are a missing-nin." Jiraiya said.

"Oh, don't worry about it, yah geezer; I have tight relations with Kumo, especially the Yondaime Raikage and his brother, Bee." He replied.

"Speaking of which, we should probably get going so we get to Kumo before sunset." Naruto said, as he began to gather his belongings. Everyone nodded in agreement before they began to pick up their belongings as well.

Two hours later they finally arrived at the gates of Kumogakure. The gate keepers were distracted by a tall brown man that was talking weirdly and he was…singing…? "Yo, yo, yo, lemme lay dis down real quick for ya'll." The man sang, flailing his arms in the air meaninglessly.

"Bee!" Zabuza called as the group of four walked up to the gates.

"YOOOOO, Momo, what are you doing here, yo?" The tall brown man asked, coming to the group.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that…I need a favor," Zabuza replied. They fist bumped, something you didn't see people do very often in the elemental nations, "This is Uzumaki Naruto." He gestured to the blond behind him. Naruto waved at the brown man.

He wore oval shaped black shades and a white Kumo headband around his forehead. He had dark skin and he was very muscular, Naruto took great interest in the older man's muscle build. He wore a white scar loosely around his neck; he had white-ish blond treaded hair. On his right shoulder, he has a tattoo of the kanji for "iron". But he wasn't fooling Naruto or Jiraiya; they both knew that it is the Iron Armour Seal that was used to seal Gyūki, the eight tail, into him. Jiraiya told Naruto before that Killer Bee was a Jinchuriki just like him. On his left cheek, he has a tattoo of a bull's horn. He also has his village's standard one-strap-over-one-shoulder flak jacket, and a long, red rope belt tied around his waist, the standard Kumo hand and shin guards, shinobi sandals. He carried seven swords on his back which made Naruto look in awe.

Does he really use them all at the same time? Naruto thought in awe.

Killer Bee shook his head and raised his hand up, offering a fist bump. Naruto happily accepted and their fists bumped against each other, "Damn, yo, you holding Foxy tight!" Bee said. Naruto had a confused look on his face but Jiraiya knew that he was saying.

"Yes it's true," Jiraiya said, gathering the attention of everyone, "Naruto is also a Jinchuriki, like you Killer Bee." He said, causing Haku and even Zabuza to gasp as their eyes grew wide.

"You're joking." Zabuza accused.

Jiraiya shook his head but Bee replied for him, "Nah, nah, nah, he ain't lying, Momo, this man's for real." He sang.

"So by 'foxy', I think Bee-sama means the Kyuubi, am I correct?" Haku asked.

Jiraiya nodded. The air became tense around them, but Zabuza broke the silence, "So you think that changed anything?" He asked, "I always knew there was something special about you kid, right Kubikiribōchō? I just didn't know it was this special." He said.

Naruto's heart was filled with happiness from the words from his sensei. He felt tears forming in his eyes for the first time in so long. But he fought them back, not wanting to look weak in front of everyone, "Thank you…Zabuza-sensei." Naruto said with a heartwarming smile that would make any girl melt.

"Yo, so, Momo, what was dat favor?" Killer Bee asked.

Killer Bee brought them up to the Raikage Tower because Zabuza insisted to speak with him in private. They had already said too much in public, hopefully no one heard them.

"I need you to teach Naruto kenjutsu." Zabuza said flatly.

Killer Bee was a little taken aback by his old friend's outburst but gathered his composure to reply, "Why me, yo?" He asked.

"You're the only one that can do it, Bee." Zabuza replied.

Killer Bee thought about it for a moment, "Nine o'clock, training field number four, yo, bring Blondie and I'll test his skills." Killer Bee said.

Zabuza smile, "Thanks, Bee, trust me, this kid will surprise you." He said. Bee nodded in response.

The four of them left the Raikage Tower and headed to the hotel that Killer Bee convince the Raikage to book for them since they had very little money. Jiraiya and Naruto shared a room while Zabuza and Haku shared the other. It was the most luxurious hotel in all of Kumogakure so the Raikage was only able to find two rooms available.

Naruto flopped onto one of the two big comfy look beds in the room he shared with his sensei. He dug into one of the pockets in his green shinobi pants before pulling out a scroll. He then tossed it to the toad sage, "I presume that Haku gave you the other five, they are the missing-nin that attacked that town in the Wave country four days ago. There's quite a bit of money on their heads in the bingo books. We could really use the money."

Jiraiya caught it before examining it, "I'll be sure to bring them to Iwa and collect the bounty while you're training here."

Naruto frowned, "Speak of Iwa, I'm not sure if Zabuza told you but we're going there after we're done here."

"Huh, why?" The toad sage asked.

"We interrogated the missing-nin from Iwa four days ago. We found out that there's activity of slave trade in Iwagakure, we're going there to put an end to it." Naruto explained.

"I see…" Jiraiya said. Naruto caught the hint of worriness in the toad sage's voice and narrowed his eyes at him, trying to read through the Sannin's expression, "There's no limit to good that you will be doing for this world, Gaki."

Clocks all around struck nine o'clock, four figures stood in training field four. It was a large clearing just outside of Kumogakure. The edge was the clearing was surrounded by trees, it was much like the clearing in the forests that Naruto trained in for the past few months. Four more figures could be seen walking into the clearing from the trees.

"Yo, yo, yo!" Bee called as he stood in the middle of the clearing with his three companions.

"Hey, Bee." Naruto greeted as he lead Zabuza, Haku and Jiraiya into the clearing.

"So, you showed up Blondie, these fresh shinobi will be yo opponents." He said, gesturing to the three young shinobi behind him.

They all looked to be about his age, maybe a year or two older. Naruto labelled the one that stood in the middle as their leader. She was maybe a year or two older than him, she constantly had the same expressionless look on her face, was she trying to analysis him? She had fair-skin and she stood fairly tall for her age. She had light blue eyes and straight, bright blond hair that fell down to her shoulders. She wore a very low-cut outfit which displayed her very large cleavage, with mesh armour underneath, a short skirt and red hand guards, high boots, and what appeared to be a modified Kumogakure flak jacket that covered her stomach only. She also had a tantō strapped horizontally to her lower back.

The other female of the group was a dark-skinned kunoichi with long red hair and amber eyes. She wore a long, short-sleeved dress with frilly edges complete with the Kumogakure flak jacket, two simple yellow earrings, fishnet stockings, thigh-high boots with white soles and a forehead protector which she wore like a bandanna. She also carried a long sword on her back.

The only male on the team was a young, dark-skinned shinobi with short, spiky, white hair and dark eyes accentuated with lines curving upwards from the corners. He wore a dark outfit consisting of an overlong shirt with a hood, with red bandage hand guards, Kumogakure shin guards, and a black forehead protector. He wore a thoughtful expression, as though he was in deep thought. He was also sucking on a lollipop and he was also carrying a long sword on his back.

Omoi brought his hand up to his chin, "This kid looks strangely like the Yondaime Hokage, he must be related to him somehow…yes, that's it…" He said, deep in thought.

"Act cooler, Omoi, he's just a boy, he shouldn't be higher than Chunnin level, and I'm already Jounin." The blond girl known as Samui said, "Bee-sama, how would you like us to deal with this?" She asked.

"It's just a spar, yo, so don't overdo it." Bee explained.

The three nodded, "Omoi, Karui, you heard what Bee-sama said, we don't disappoint him." Samui said, receiving nods from her two teammates.

"Good luck, Gaki," Jiraiya said, before him, Zabuza and Haku shunshined away to a further away location to watch the spar from afar.

"Three-on-one, Blondie, good luck!" Bee said to Naruto before walking to the edge of the clearing to join the three others.

Before Naruto could introduce himself, the three Kumo-nins rushed at him with Jounin level speed. They each drew their rightful weapons, ready with intense killer intent. He quickly clapped his hands twice before a dim light illuminated from his body and covered the entire large clearing, "Barrier: Canopy Method Technique!" He cried.

When they come only a few meters away from Naruto, he drew his blade to block. Sparks flew when the three weapons collided together…wait three weapons? Naruto counted only two other katanas pushing against him. He quickly used all of his strength to push the two katana user back and then immediately brought his blade up to meet Samui's tantō.

Shit, these guys are really tactical, Naruto taught as they collided, luckily I put up my barrier, or else I wouldn't have sensed her coming from above,

He found a way to slip away from them and withdrew his sword, he flipped through a few hand signs, "Wind Release: Divine Wind!" He cried. Three pretty large tornadoes swirled around the clearing. Harsh, strong winds blew around the clearing, ripping some tree apart. The three Kumo-nins had some trouble staying on their feet and also maneuvering around the three uncontrollable tornadoes.

Somehow the girl known as Karui was able to get close to Naruto. He drew his sword to block, "Cloud Style: Front Beheading!" She cried, whatever she did, it really increased the power of her blade. She made a horizontal slash, which Naruto easily stopped with a vertical block.

Shit, she really knows her kenjutsu, Naruto thought as he struggled to hold her frontal slash.

On the edge of the clearing, the four people watching the spar, "Yo,yo,yo, ya'll were right, Blondie's got some skill." Bee sang, "I remember those moves, you taught, ain't you Momo." Zabuza nodded with a smirk.

"These three are very skilled at kenjutsu." Jiraiya praised, "Konoha should start encourage kenjutsu in the academy." He said.

Back with Naruto, he was currently in hell. He always fought three-on-one with Haku, Jiraiya and Zabuza but this was different. These three Kumo-nins were barely holding back. They were fast, powerful and agile. Naruto was hardly keeping up. He could easily take them out one-on-one, but three-on-one was a little too much.

He blocked another strike from Samui's tantō. Thanks to his barrier ninjutsu, he sensed Omoi, sword slashing towards his legs horizontally. He quickly jumped, avoiding the slash. And afterwards kicked Omoi in the face, causing him to skid along the grassy ground.

It wasn't long until Karui came rushing at him, slashing horizontally at his mid-section. He quickly pulled out a kunai from his ninja pouch; he twirled it around on his finger, before holding it in the backhand hold. Sparks flew as sword and kunai collided.

Naruto kicked Samui away, allowing him to use his sword freely. Which he used to slash at Karui who jumped back to avoid it. Omoi was back for more. Naruto quickly swerved around to slash horizontally at Omoi mid-section. He cut through it like paper, but he wasn't surprised when a log fell on the ground in his place, split in two.

Where is he, Naruto thought as he eyed his surroundings

"Cloud Style: Deception Beheading!" Omoi's voice came as he charged forward with a lateral sword slash. But Naruto easily blocked it vertically.

Shit, it didn't work, he wasn't surprised by the body replacement technique and plus he's got the canopy method technique up so he can sense my movements, Omoi thought as he and Naruto collided.

A smirk curled on Omoi face. Naruto didn't even turn around to block the incoming strike by Karui from behind him.

Damn, he read Omoi's expression and he can see everything that happens within this barrier, Karui thought as spark flew as steel met steel.

Omoi ducked, allowing Samui to coming flying in from behind him, striking him with her tantō.

Damn it, where did Omoi go, Naruto thought.

I'll have to use the technique that Bee-sama taught me, Omoi thought as he withdrew his sword, Reverse Mist Beheading,

He rushed at Naruto and at last moment he drew his sword at slashed at him. Naruto simply bent backwards to narrowly avoid the blade. Suddenly three more Omoi's puffed into existence! Shadow clones!

He can make shadow clones, Naruto thought in surprise as his eyes widened, but which one is the real one?

Karui and Samui retreated with a single backwards jump. He wasn't given the chance to pursuit them as three Omoi's surrounded him, their sword brought over their heads. In one swift motion, they all brought their sword down on Naruto would was quick enough to jump up to avoid them.

But he didn't have much time to relax, "Kyah!" Naruto looked up to see three familiar figures coming down at him with their blades ready.

Shit, they were all decoys, the real one was above me along with the others, Naruto thought in surprise. He brought his blade up to block all three of the assaults. But he wasn't strong enough to stop all three of them, causing him to fall to the group with a big THUD.

A good sized cloud of dust was formed on Naruto's impact. Omoi's shadow clones puffed out of existence. The three Kumo-nins landed outside of the cloud, waiting to see if the blond got up.

"Is it over?" The four outside of the clearing thought.

Suddenly mist began to roll into the clearing. Jiraiya glared a Zabuza, "Hey, don't look at me!" He threw his hands up in innocence.

The mist was so thick that the three Kumo-nins had trouble seen each other. Suddenly, nine shadow clones of Naruto puffed into existence.

So, he can use Shadow Clones as well, Omoi thought in surprise as he and his teammates drew their weapons once again. The nine shadow clones surrounded the three sepereatly. All at once, their swords came down on the Kumo-nins. They were a little late to react because the mist was really affecting their vision. But they all jumped in unison. It was only then that they realized their mistake.

"I took your technique and made it my own!" Naruto's voice came from above them in the mist. They all look up but saw nothing. "Double Reverse Mist Beheading!" He cried. That's when it became clear to them. Three Naruto's coming from above them, slashing his katana down on them. They were late to react because of the mist, but they were able to block because Naruto slowed down his slash so he wouldn't really injure them or kill them.

They were all push to the ground by the impact from Naruto's blade. They all fell with a splash. The ground was wet, wait more than that, it was flooded.

"Water Release: Water Prison Technique!" Naruto cried, causing Zabuza to smirk from the side.

Karui tried to take a deep breathe or she wishes. The mist cleared to show Samui and Omoi struggling to their feet from the craters they made in the ground. Karui was trapped and couldn't move in a sphere of water with Naruto's hand inside.

The water is dense, she thought in surprise, I would use a Lightning jutsu but I can barely move,

"Give up," Naruto said coldly.

Karui looked down in shame, "I surrender." She said form within the sphere. Naruto released her from the sphere of water. She coughed up some water before apologizing to her teammates and making her way to side where Bee was.

"Two-on-one, this'll be a little easy." Naruto said with a smirk. Omoi and Samui were no on their feet, "Is that it? I take hit like that from Zabuza-sensei and Ero-Sennin, all the time!" Naruto said with a little arrogance.

He truly is a student of the toad sage, Jiraiya of the Sannin, Samui thought as she panted, struggling to catch her breath. Omoi was currently struggling to do the same.

How did the training ground get flooded with water, Omoi questioned himself, looking around the clearing for a reason. He then found the clearing; he also noticed Samui noticed as well. One of Naruto's clone snuck away and activated a water seal that he had prepared beforehand.

"This kid is smart, Omoi, let's not over think things," Samui said between breathes.

Omoi nodded, "Right!"

* * *

**Oh man, two updates in one day! I'll try and keep it up if you guys promise to REVIEW! ;)**

**That fight scene was hard! I hope I did it right! I will surely continue it in the next chapter though! Tell me what you thought of it.**

**So I hope you all enjoyed that chapter, and all a good New Year's Eve! Just because I've been getting a few PMs some people were asking me if Haku was in fact a girl. I thought I made it clear but apparently not. Haku IS a girl, NOT a boy, in this fanfic. Thanks for understanding! **

**I tried adding a little comedy in when 'Town Scene' so I hope you all liked that!**

**Also, there will be a time skip in the middle of the next chapter, so prepare for that, it probably won't be the last.**

**So, please REVIEW! I really enjoy reading them! Also, my ears are open for suggestions for the story and also Naruto's pairing. If you didn't read the note at the beginging, I won't be pairing Naruto with Haku because of a reason you will learn soon (maybe in the next chapter). So please suggestion some girl (not guys, this is NOT YAOI) **

**So once again, please REVIEW! Thanks!**


	4. Tosogare, Task Force!

Two Halves of the Same Sword

**Thanks for all the reviews everyone! Just to let you all know, I read all your reviews and all your suggestions were great, I'm going to wait another chapter or so to see who I will pick but my mind is pretty much set on someone. I was lucky to have a few of you that suggested her to me. I'm still taking in suggestion and I'm being very open minded about this!**

**Two very important flashbacks in this chapter! (Flashbacks will be in **_**Italic)**_

**Enjoy! ^^**

Chapter IV: Tosogare, Task Force!

"You did well, Karui, I'm impressed with your strength and speed." Jiraiya praised as Karui exited the training ground.

She bowed formally, "Thank you, Jiraiya-sama." She said gratefully.

"Yo, Momo, you were right!" Bee said, "That little Blondie surprised me with his skill, yo!"

Naruto withdrew his sword before flipping through a series of hand sign, "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!" Naruto cried. Out of the flooded clearing floor, a large dragon made of water rose. It was at least twenty feet tall. After the dragon rose to life, it shot at the Kumo-nins like a bullet.

"Omoi, stand back!" Samui said as she flipped through a few hand signs, "Lightning Release: False Darkness!" She cried. She pointed her tantō at the water dragon. Blue lightning in the shape of a spear emitted from the tip of her short blade. It flew at the dragon like a bullet.

The jutsus collided in a fight between lightning and water. Naruto's jutsu had for more chakra to it, therefore it was far more powerful, but Samui's lightning had the affinity advantage. They collided for a while before they both died in an explosion of lightning and water.

Quite a bit of mist covered the area due to the explosion, "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Naruto's voice came from within mist. There was a moment of pin drop silence, before a large gust of rough wind blew against Samui and Omoi. They were also swept off their feet. They would have if it wasn't for the nearby rock that Samui grabbed onto and Omoi's quick reflexes to stab the ground with his sword.

"So much chakra!" Omoi cried, blocking his eyes from the wind with his free arm, "We have to close!"

When the wind started to die, Naruto didn't waste any time as he began to flip through a series of hand signs, "Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique!" Once again, a large amount of thick mist engulfed the clearing.

"Shit, not this again!" Omoi grunted as he drew his sword and busted his guard.

There was a long waiting moment of silence. Samui and Omoi eyed their surroundings but all they could see what the thick mist. Suddenly, Omoi felt a shape, cold blade against his neck, "Game over." Omoi heard Naruto say from behind him. In an instant, all the mist vanished. Samui blinked a few times because of the change in her vision. She looked around to see Naruto behind Omoi with his wide katana at his neck.

"I surrender…" Omoi said, dropping his sword and raising his hands in the air. Naruto removed his blade from the other boy's neck and released his hold on him. He walked off the training ground, but not before apologizing to Samui.

On the side lines, Jiraiya congratulated Omoi for a job well done, "You did a great job, Omoi, you showed great strength and tactical skill." Jiraiya said.

Omoi bowed, "Thank you Jiraiya-sama."

"Yo, yo, yo, that Naruto kid, sure has some skill like none I saw for a rapper his age." Bee sang as he flailed his arms around uselessly.

"Keep watching, Bee, I'm sure he'll surprise you some more." Zabuza said, not taking his eyes off the battle ground.

"So, it' just me and you now, Blondie." Naruto teased.

Samui scoffed, "I could say the same to you."

They said no more as they simultaneously rushed towards each other, drawing their weapons in the process. They traded blows, jumping around the clearing as they did so. Each time switching between defense and offense. Sparks continued to fly between their steel weapons as they blurred in and out of sight. Bu those on the side lines were skilled enough to see them, even at the speed they were moving at.

Naruto is faster than this, why is he holding back, Jiraiya thought on the side line.

They both landed about forty feet away from each other on the opposite sides of the clearing. Samui was panting with a few scratches here and there while Naruto stood straight as he barely broke a sweat, "You're pretty fast." He praised with a smug smirk on his face.

"You're not too bad yourself, Blondie." She teased, sending him a wink.

Naruto had a flat look on his face, She still has the energy to flirt, he questioned himself. After the encounter with the girls in the town they went to in the Wave Country she taught him all about the complex female mind and how complicated it was. She taught him all about flirting and things that people did together when they were in 'love'. He had to admit that it was strange, learning to that kind of thing from a girl, but it was better than not knowing it at all.

Naruto blushed but shook it off, "Let's end this in a final move, shall we?" Naruto said, getting his a ready stance.

"We shall." Samui replied, readying herself.

There was a moment of pin drop silence before they both started to flash through hand signs simultaneously.

Jiraiya's eyes grew wide in disbelief, "Shit…" He spoke. Everyone look at him in shock.

"What's wrong, Jiraiya?" Zabuza asked, his voice full of worry.

Jiraiya shook his head, "Judging by the hand signs and that look on his face, he's about to use Pressure Damage." The toad sage explained, "Every, let's move, this could get ugly fast!" Jiraiya said as he began to jump deeper into the forest. Everyone else followed, they found a nice tall tree quite the distance from the edge of the clearing.

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!" Naruto cried when he landed on his final hand sign.

"Lightning Release: False Darkness!" Samui cried in unison with Naruto when she landed on her last hand sign.

A blue spear of lightning bolt shot towards Naruto at an unbelievable speed. Meanwhile, nothing was happening to Naruto.

Why would you use a jutsu he doesn't even know how to you, she questioned herself with smug smirk on her face.

Suddenly, Naruto's rose his hand up. And just like that, an enormous about of rough wind blew around the clearing uncontrollably, immediately stop and cancelling out her lightning jutsu in its tracks. Samui didn't stand a chance against the strong and rough winds as she is quickly swept off her feet.

From the top of a tree, Zabuza is watching with wide eyes and the most amused look on his face, "This jutsu is fuckin' amazing!" He yelled over the wind, "What were you so scared off, ya old geezer?"

"He can't control it," Jiraiya stated as he held on to his tree with a mighty grip, I have to stop it, he thought. He focused chakra to his feet so he would be able to stick to the tree while he would be able to use his hands. It seemed as if Killer Bee got the idea first and was watching the rough wind go on with his arms crossed and serious look drawn on his face. Jiraiya was about to begin his hand signs but he noticed the wind slowing down, is he finally able to control it, he questioned himself.

Soon enough the wind died down and they were able to see that only a few trees were wrecked and the clearing had barely gained in terms of diameter.

He did, Jiraiya thought in disbelief, he was able to control pressure damage, he thought, "He's finally able to control the jutsu." Jiraiya spoke, "He's one step closer to mastering it.

A lifeless Samui began to fall from the sky. She was at least forty feet in the air. A worried Killer Bee began focusing chakra to his feet. That was until of course he noticed the blond blur appear underneath her with open arms. A second later she fell into his arms bridal style. Naruto blushed a little, noticing he caught her but shook it off.

Somehow, the eight of them were able to all squeezed into Samui's apartment bed room. Naruto was perer pressured into having to carry Samui all the way there. It was about a half hour walk of Bee going on about how he incredibly impressed with how fast and powerful he was for such a young age. Naruto careful dropped her on bed, tucking her in tight underneath a light blanket.

"Shouldn't we bring her to the hospital?" Omoi asked, worried about his unconscious teammate.

Naruto shook his head, "Nah, Haku already check her out, and she just needs a goodnight's sleep."

When all what done and taken care of, "Yo, Blondie, you ready to get yo training spirit on?" Bee asked.

Naruto had a determined smirk, "You bet!" He almost yelled, shooting him a peace sign.

Two months later, Naruto's training with Bee had reached a point where he was starting to become a better swordsman than his sensei. Killer Bee trained the blond prodigy in the art of dual wielding, meaning kenjutsu that using two swords. Naruto was truly a natural at it; he learned the basics in the first week. And having one of the best swordsmen in all of the elemental nations also helped his fast learning and adaption to the new style of kenjutsu.

After the first month, Naruto learn and mastered the main and basic cloud style of kenjutsu. He added a quite a few new techniques to his arsenal that involved kenjutsu as well.

In an open, grassy clearing just outside of Kumogakure, Karui and Omoi plummeted to the ground, their swords drawn as they were in the midst of combat. Underneath, them was a two month older Naruto. He as well, had his wide sword drawn. Instead of allow his enemies to fall; he jumped up to meet them.

"Cloud Style: Crescent Moon Beheading!" The blond Genin cried. In an instant he slashed his sword upwards towards his two enemies. His sword cut through the empty air in the shape of a crescent moon. Meanwhile, Karui and Omoi were able to dodge the vital strike and arrive on the ground. Naruto landed between as they stood on opposite sides of him.

"Cloud Style: Reverse Beheading!" Naruto cried before slashing his blade horizontally at Karui who stood in front of him. She brought her sword up, vertically, to block but the strike never came. Luckily, Omoi read what he was about to do and blocked the strike that came to him instead, even though he was behind Naruto.

Damn he's gotten a lot stronger, Omoi thought as he blocked the invisible strike, he's shown great use that the reverse beheading, too,

Omoi then jumped back to avoid behind thrown back by the force of Naruto's attack. Karui took this opportunity to send a horizontal strike at Naruto. She felt her sword to through him but she was slightly taken aback when a log was sliced his in place, "Cloud Style: Deception Beheading!" Naruto's voice came from behind her. He dashed forward to strike from behind but Omoi blurred into existence between them, block Naruto's strike head on.

How did he get behind me so fast, Karui questioned herself in disbelief, he's so much faster than he was the day we met him,

"Time to get things started!" Naruto said as he clashed with Omoi. He quickly drew a second similar blade from the other side of his waist, the only difference was that this blade had a green handle instead of red, like the its counterpart, "Time to dual wield!" As he drew it, Karui rushed around Naruto to strike him from the opposite side.

"Cloud Style: Front Beheading!" She cried, rushing at him at full speed, ready to slash him with her blade.

Naruto smirked when he realized the little scuffle he was in, "Cloud Style: Full Moon Beheading!" He cried before slashing both blades simultaneously in a crescent moon shape. Since he had two blades, he created two crescent moons, which added up to be in the shape of a full moon. It was a 360 degree attack.

Both Kumo-nins knew the power of the certain technique they were up against so they didn't even try to block it. Instead, they jumped back to avoid it very narrowly because of the speed the blade were swung at. When the duo landed they withdrew their swords and bowed in respect, "You've really improved, Naruto-kun, thanks for the spar." Karui said.

Omoi nodded his head in agreement, "She right, Naruto, you've really improved you're speed, strengths, taijutsu and especially your kenjutsu." Omoi praised.

Naruto withdrew both his swords, before bowing in the same manner as them. He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment because of all the praise he was receiving, "Awh man, you guys are really making me blush here." He said, causing them all to break out into laughter. But in reality he was actually blushing because of the suffix Karui added to his name. She had been calling him that for the past month and he still hasn't gotten used to it.

While Naruto's training with Team Samui and Killer Bee went on, Jiraiya, Haku and Zabuza went onward to Iwagakure to collect their bounty on the missing-nin they capture and all to investigate about the hidden slave trade that was apparently occurring there.

From the shadows of the trees that made up the clearing the three were sparring in, two figures stood with crossed arms, watching them closely, "Bee-sama, what do you think of Naruto's progress over the last two months?" The blond woman as the man next to her.

"He's definitely a kenjutsu prodigy, yo," The brown man replied, "He'll be a force to be reckoned with in da future is ya'll no what I mean, yo." He sang.

"How did he becoming so adapted to dual wielding after such a short amount of time?" Samui asked, "Even with you as a sensei, it took me six months to get the basics and he did it in two months, plus I wasn't anywhere near as good as he is."

"Blondie replies well to dem metaphors, you get?" Bee sang.

Samui had a confused look on her face, "What?"

_Flashback…_

_It was the first day of training and Killer Bee was able to get the best blacksmith in all of Kumo to make a duplicate of Naruto's infamous wide katana. But instead of a red handle, this one was green. It was a hot day in Kumogakure. Team Samui sat against tree, underneath their shadows, watching lazily until it was their turn to teach. Jiraiya was reading away in a notepad, probably about his perverted books that every knew about. And Haku was using her Hyouton; much to everyone's licking to cool everyone off as much as possible._

_Meanwhile, Zabuza was assisting Bee with Naruto's training until they had to leave in a few days to Iwagakure. The training began with Bee explaining to Naruto how to use two blades at the same time, instead of only one. Naruto started swinging them around, trying to understand the basics at the same time. It looked right, but it was terribly wrong,_

_Killer Bee frowned, "You're doing it wrong, Blondie." He said. Zabuza nodded._

_Bee was about to say more until Zabuza stepped in. He took the two swords from Naruto before the blond stepped back. Zabuza started to swing them around gracefully, while keeping his legs slightly bent, "Don't think as they to be separate," He explained. He swung them around some more, while keeping his strange kenjutsu stance, "Think of it as…two halves of the same sword." He said. And just like that it clicked._

_Naruto's eyes widened in surprised, "Can I try?" He asked. Zabuza nodded before handing him the dual blades by the handles. And as if he was a completely new person, he swung the swords around even more gracefully than Zabuza did. Everyone watched in disbelief at how quickly he got it._

"_Now you're dual wield, Blondie!" Bee exclaimed._

"_It's all thanks to you, Zabuza-sensei." Naruto said, while making sure to not break his new kenjutsu stance, as he continued to swing the dual swords._

…_End Flashback_

"I see," Samui said as Killer Bee finished telling her the story, "I always knew that Zabuza was the cool type."

"Yeah that's why Momo and I are friends, yo." He sang.

Samui had a curious expression that was temporally replacing her usual cool and calm one, "What did he do to make you owe him such a favor?" She asked.

"That's something ya'll such as him yo-self," He sang.

"Jiraiya gave us four months to train him, two months are already done," Samui said, "What else do you plan to teach him? He greatly improved his speed, strength, taijutsu and especially kenjutsu in the short time span." She said.

"More kenjutsu." Bee said simply, "He's gotta master it in two more months." He sang.

"Aren't you going to teach him how to control the Kyuubi?" Samui asked.

Bee shook his head, "He's barely fourteen, yo, Imma wait a few years."

Two more months came and gone and Bee was proud to say that Naruto was truly a prodigy. He was probably the best dual wielder in all of the elemental nations. During the last two months Naruto barely slept, all he did was tire himself with training and hitting the books late at night. He concentrated mostly in the books, learning about history and also about kenjutsu stances. He had a side goal of finding the perfect kenjutsu stance, with no weaknesses. So far, he didn't have anything.

Said blond was currently at 'The Dango Hut' the best tango in Kumogakure could be found there. It was a fairly well sized restaurant and one of the top hangout places for Naruto and Team Samui who he was always seen with. Naruto had become quite addicted to dango over the past few months but he also had the healthy, fat free ones, so not to break his sensei's rule of breaking his well-balanced diet. They mostly just went there to hangout and talk since Omoi knew the owner fairly well.

Today, the gang was lucky to obtain the infamous window seat that Omoi loved so much. No one complained, it was their favorite seat as well since it was the only table with a good few out the window in the entire restaurant. Karui enjoyed looking out the window, spotting attractive guy. While Omoi like spotting cute girls, but then he ended up overthinking things and end up sleeping with his face in the pillow because of a large pump from Karui's fist.

But it wasn't the same for the two blonds of the group. As every girl in Kumogakure would kill an entire army of S-ranked ninja to be able to go on a date with Naruto. Many were jealous of Team Samui, being able to befriend the blond first. They were all envious at the time that the three spend with the said blond Jinchuriki. Omoi used this to his advantage, staying close to Naruto so girl would come rushing to them. Naruto had to admit that he love the attention, but all the screaming girls had him wearing earplugs must of the time when they went out. Naruto's popular status in the village would lead to training ground four being stalked by many girls, looking to get a good glimpse of Naruto topless.

Samui couldn't say that she wasn't getting the same treatment. But it seemed that she began attracting a lot of attention from the other males of the village when Naruto arrived. They were probably acting that way because they were envious at how the handsome blond was spending so much time with the busty kunoichi. Omoi never seemed to be any of their enemy. It was hard to not notice all their eyes glued to her chest as the group wandered around the village when they weren't training.

A few days after the four months were over, Naruto requested an audience with the Raikage along with Team Samui. Jiraiya, Zabuza and Haku were scheduled to arrive in Kumo any day now and Naruto needed to get something off his chest that had being laying there for over four months now.

"Raikage-sama," Naruto said as he and Team Samui walked into the large brown man's office. A, the Raikage was a tall dark-skinned man with a large muscular build, with his white hair that was combed back, and a small moustache and beard. He wasn't wearing a shirt, showing off his hulky physical body and the two Fuma Shuriken tattoos on both his shoulders. He also wore a gold belt around his waist with a boar's face engraved in the centre and he also sported gold bangle bracelets on each wrist.

He sat behind his desk at the end of the office. Beside him as usual was his assistant. She carried the clipboard and held against her chest. She had while hair that was held up in a bun as usual and she wore a long green dress and black heels.

"Naruto-kun…" Raikage started, "Screw the formality, and come give this lonely Raikage a hug!" He said, opening his arms to the blond who happily walked over and gave the larger man a big huge. The Raikage gave Naruto a bone crushing hug. Naruto had a big smile on his face even though he broke half the bones in his body just now. A had truly become a fatherly character for Naruto, along with Jiraiya and Zabuza. Bee was also like a brother to Naruto, while Team Samui just remained as very good and close friends.

"It's good to see you to, Raikage-sama," Naruto said weakly under the large man's grip.

"That's uncle A for you, Naruto-kun," A stated, releasing him from his mighty grip.

Naruto shook his head back into reality, "Whatever you say Rai—uncle A." He said, causing A to smile in approval.

"Raikage-sama…" Karui and Omoi said un unison, having to wipe a stream of tears that were falling from their eyes,

"You know what, Naruto-kun, my cousin, who was once the jinchuriki of Gyūki, like Bee is now, once told me once a person becomes a Jinchuriki, their life would be full of darkness, fear and overwhelming loneliness." A said with a serious look on his face, "But I can see you changing that, Naruto."

Naruto smile brightly, "Thanks, Uncle A, I'll try my best."

"Enough of that, what is this audience with me all about?" The large man asked.

Naruto paused, reflecting with himself if he really wanted to go through with it, "I want to take Team Samui out of the village." He blurted out, surprised everyone in the room.

"W-What do you mean, Naruto-kun?" Raikage asked in confusion.

_Flashback…_

_Zabuza and Jiraiya sat on one side of the booth while Naruto sat opposite to them. They were currently in The Dango Hut. Zabuza had quickly taken a liking to the restaurant, ordering dango none stop. But to Jiraiya, whatever Naruto called them here for, was serious. It was the day before Zabuza, Jiraiya and Haku were scheduled to leave for Iwa. They were to retrieve the money for the bounties they caught and investigate Iwagakure about the rumored slave trade for the remaining time while Naruto trained in Kumogakure._

"_So what did you call us here for, Gaki?" Jiraiya asked, curious about the reason why they were here._

_Naruto took a moment to think about how he was going to say it, "Zabuza-sensei, remember when we were in that town in the Wave Country?" Zabuza nodded with a mouthful of dango, "Remember how great it felt when he helped them all out and they were all cheering us on and how greatful and happy they were even though they witness me killing someone right before their eyes?" He said._

_Jiraiya was a little shocked, "Where are you going with this, Gaki?" The toad sage asked._

"_I want to form a group, like the Akatsuki you told me about. But we're good and we help people in need, like-like a task force." Naruto said._

_Both older men were look at the blond in disbelief, "That's pretty insane, Gaki, do you know how much planning that would take? We don't have anyone for the job."_

_Naruto pointed at the him, "You."_

"_ME!?" Jiraiya asked in shock._

"_Yeah, you can lead us, get us missions. You have your spy network, don't you? You have all the connections to Konoha and even some to Suna." Naruto explained, "And I have powerful connection to Kumo as well."_

_Jiraiya had to think about it for a moment, Naruto's intentions were good, at least he wasn't doing it all for the praise and fame, "Alright, Gaki, I'll make you a deal. Seeing how it's just me, you, Zabuza and Haku, if you can find a few more members just to get us started then I'll do it." The gray haired man spoke, a smirk grew on Naruto's face, "I'll even get the planning started while we're away in Iwagakure." He added._

"_Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, just a second." Zabuza said, finally swallowing his mouthful of dango, "Who said Haku and I are in?"_

"_Once we're done in Iwa, we'll go help out bloodline war in Kiri." Naruto said, smirking, knowing that Zabuza's reason to get stronger was to end the war._

"_Alright, I'm in." Zabuza said in unison with a mysterious voice. They all turned to see Haku standing at the end of the table._

"_Alright!" Naruto said, punching his fist in the air, "We're finally getting started, Tosogare!" Naruto yelled, grabbing the attention of everyone in the restaurant for a moment before they all got back to what they were doing._

"_Tosogare?" Zabuza asked._

"_It's our group's name." Naruto explained._

"_I see, Tosogare…sounds good!" Zabuza said with a determined nod._

"_Agreed." Jiraiya said as Haku nodded._

…_End Flashback_

"I see…" The Raikage said as he stroked his beard, deep in thought, "So did you ask Team Samui if they would join?"

Naruto sweat dropped, "Uh, no, you see, Uncle A, I was actually a little scared to ask them." He stated, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone in embarrassment.

Suddenly he was grabbed in a head lock, "The great Naruto is scared?" Omoi asked before he started to rub his fist against the top the blond's head, "I never thought I see the day! Count me in for sure, Raikage-sama!" Omoi said with a determined face that he must have gotten from Naruto.

"I'd like to join as well." Samui stated.

Everyone turned to Karui, awaiting her answer, "I—I can't…" She stated sadly, the floor becoming her greatest interest now.

"Why not, Karui?" Samui asked.

"My mom and little sister are here, I need to take care of them." She explained, "My mother is ill and she can't work so I have to make the money and look after her and my sister." She said sadly.

Naruto was about to tell her that by joining Tosogare, she would be able to gain three times the amount of money that she earn by being a Kumo-nin but he let it go, knowing that she really wanted to stay here and watch over the family, he made his way over the her and placed his hand on her shoulder, "It's okay, I understand, Karui." He said, flashing her, his trademark smile that would make any girl melt.

She was on the verge of tears, but managed to keep them hidden, "Thank you for understanding, Naruto-kun." She said, placing her hand on his that remained on her shoulder, "But, Omoi, Samui, I want you two to go with Naruto, join him and help him in my place." She added.

"Are you sure?" Samui asked before Omoi could.

Karui nodded, "I'm certain." She insisted.

Later on that night, Karui sat on the top of the building complex that as her home. Suddenly she felt a suddenly chakra signature appear beside her. Her hand flew to her sword but she relaxed when she saw the familiar long and messy blond hair, "Naruto..!" She said, relaxing her hand.

"I didn't scare you, did I?" He asked before taking a seat next to her. His legs dangled over the edge of the building.

"No, never… "She replied, "I'll just never get over fast you are." She said.

Naruto laughed at her comment, "You know, I'm not mad at you for not being able to come." He said.

"Thanks for insuring that, I wouldn't want you to be mad at me." She replied, "Don't think I won't help, I'll try assisting you guys from the outside and passing on information when I can. And maybe someday, who knows, I might be able to join you guys."

"Thanks, Karui that means a lot" He said.

Karui nodded happily, "I know how much this means to Omoi and Samui. I saw how their eyes lit up to your request, they are really eager to go with you, Naruto-kun." She stated, "But do me a favor, okay?"

"And what's that?" He asked.

"Take care of them, okay?"

Naruto smiled, "I will…with my life." He replied. She smiled at his reply before slowly leaning in towards him, planting a small kiss on his cheek. He blush lightly and his eyes widened in surprised. But that wasn't enough for her as she leaned in again but this time their lips met. She wrapped her arms around his neck while his went around her waist. They continued that embrace for about a minute before Naruto broke it off.

She opened her eyes to find that Naruto had disappeared.

**Wow, that was tough! I hope you all enjoy this fast updated chapter! Tell me what you think in a REVIEW! I really worked hard on this one. Keep up the REVIEWS and I'll keep up the updates **

**Also, just so there's no confusing, this will NOT be a NarutoxKarui pairings. I just wanted them to have their little moment since I gave a few signs that Karui had a crush on him. I didn't really emphasize it since it won't be the main pairing of the story. Which by the way, I'm still trying to decide, and it would be great if I could get all your input on that!**

**So once again, REVIEW and the updates will just keep rolling in!**


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